central_va:
"during the invasion of PA Lee order his troops to PAY for everything they appropriated - no looting...""To tell the truth I wish the Southern Armies HAD acted like Sherman's bummers. The South played the gentleman to the North's rapist."
I'm certain you well know that:
- Whatever "payments" Northern farmers received for their stolen goods was in worthless Confederate IOUs.
- Southern Armies DID act like Sherman's bummers, on occasion.
For example: Chambersburg, Pennsylvania was visited three times by Confederate armies:
- "On October 10, 1862, Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, with 1800 cavalrymen, raided Chambersburg, destroying $250,000 of railroad property and taking 500 guns, hundreds of horses, and at least "eight young colored men and boys."[38]
- "During the early days of the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, a Virginia cavalry brigade under Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins occupied the town and burned several warehouses and Cumberland Valley Railroad structures and the bridge at [nearby] Scotland.
From June 24–28, 1863, much of the Army of Northern Virginia passed through Chambersburg[40][41] en route to Carlisle and Gettysburg, and Robert E. Lee established his headquarters at a nearby farm."
- "The following year, Chambersburg was invaded for a third time, as cavalry dispatched from the Shenandoah Valley by Jubal Early arrived.[5]
On July 30, 1864, a large portion of the town was burned down under orders from Brig. Gen. John McCausland for failing to provide a ransom of $500,000 in US currency, or $100,000 in gold.[42][43]
Among the few buildings left standing was the Masonic Temple, which had been guarded under orders by a Confederate mason.[44]
Norland, the home of Republican politician and editor Alexander McClure, was burned even though it was well north of the main fire.'Remember Chambersburg' soon became a Union battle cry.[45]"
Note the 1862 kidnapping of "eight young colored men and boys". And what was their fate?
But also note that except for the unknown fate of those "young colored men and boys", we are only talking about burning and pillaging, not rape and murder.
The same is true of Northern armies in the Confederacy.
This is laughable. No reputable historian thinks there is any equivalence between the behaviors of the two opposing sides. You are really reaching here. Chambersburg was so memorable because it was an ANOMALY, the exception that proved the rule.